Apparatus for forming pipe-couplings or similar articles.



No. 653,913. Patented luly'l?, |900'.v

D. HEGGIE. f

APPARATUS FOB FDBMING PIPE CUUPLINGS 0R SIMILAR ARTICLES.

(Appummn med occ. 14,1899.)

(No Model.)

me cams Eriks co. vauro-uma. WASHINGTON. o, cv

eration.

Nrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID IIEGGIE, OF MCKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONALTUBE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND PITTSBURG,

PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR FORNIING PIIE-(IOUPLINGS 0R SIMILAR ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming' part Of Letters Patent No. 653,913, rdated July17, 1900. Application led October 14, 1899. 1'Serialliim 733,597. (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID I-IEGGIE, a resident of McKeesport, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have in'- vented a newand useful Improvement in Apparatus for Forming Pipe-Couplings orSimilar Articles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to apparatus for the manufacture of pipe-couplings,thread-protectors, and similar articles, its object being to providesuitable apparatus loy which the material used in forming such articlescan be employed in larger bulk or body relative to the articles formedand a larger number of such articles be produced at one welding op- Theusual custom in forming such articles has been to roll the metal toapproximately the desired width for a single article and then to cut itin suitable lengths and to Vweld each article separately. This requireda much greater reduction of the metal in order to bring it to thenecessary section, and the rolling of the small bars was a matter ofconsiderable expense in the production of such couplings. Each couplingor protector was then welded separately, requiring separate heating andseparate feeding to the machine, all of which increased the labor andcost of the same still further. In an application led by me of even dateherewith, Serial No. 733,595, I have set forth and claimed amethod offorming these couplings or like articles consisting in heating a barcorrespending in Width to two or more such couplings and at oneoperation welding the same into ring form and finishing the bodies ofseveral couplings from such bar. The present invention relates toapparatus suitable for practicing this method; and it consists,generally stated, in rolls for forming such couplings or like articleshaving a plain-faced central mandrel corresponding in diameter to theinterior of the blank to be formed and adapted to support the same and acluster of rolls around the same, such rolls having working facescorresponding to the width of two or more couplings and annularprojections intermediate of their working faces to inish the end facesof the couplings to be produced.

To enable others skilled in the art to employ my invention, I willdescribe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure l is a vertical cross-section of apparatus embodying theinvention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2 2, Fig. l.Eig. 3 shows the bar from which the couplings are formed, indicating bydotted lines the size of the blanks cut from the bar so as to be weldedinto couplings. Fig. t illustrates 'the weldedcouplings Where they areconnected by thin webs, and Fig. 5 illustrates the finished weldedcouplings separated from each other.

Like figures of reference indicate like parts in each oi' the views.

My invention has been employed more particularly in formingpipe-couplings and pipethread protectors or collars, and the inventionwill be illustrated in connection with the same.

The apparatus embodying the invention is preferably provided with acluster of live rolls mounted in a suitable housing 1 of the usualconstruction employed with a cluster of rolls for the welding of singleblanks, eX-

cept that it is of greater width. Mounted in this housing are the rolls2, 3, and Ll, which in the welding operation are usually heldstationary, the roll 3 being mounted in a fixed bearing, while the rolls2 and 4 are mounted in adjustable bearings 5 6, so that they can bebrought to proper relative position with the other rolls in the cluster.De-

low the said rolls is the sliding bearing 7,"

which has mounted at its upper end the rolls 8 and 9, so forming theiive rolls of the cluster. Fitting within said several rolls is themandrel 10, which is inserted within the clusl ter before the metal isfed to the rolls and is withdrawn by hand after the welding operation.The several rolls of the cluster have the end flanges 1l and 12, adaptedto bear upon the mandrel 10, which is of practically the same diameterthroughout, and within said flanges two or more working faces, eachcorresponding in width and shape tothe iin- IOO ished coupling to beproduced. Forinstance, each roll has three working faces 13, 11, and 15,these working faces being separated by the outwardly-projecting annularribs 16, which extend around the rolls and the edges of which are formedof such contour as to properly iinish the end faces of the couplings tobe produced. It is preferred that the ribs 16 shall not be of any greatwidth, especially where the bar fed to the rolls is of the same generalthickness throughout instead of having the depressions corresponding tothe spaces between the rolls partially produced in the rolling operationby which the bar was produced. In the former case it is desirable thatthe annular projecting ribs shall easily swage down the metal in bothwelding the blank into ring form and separating it into severalcouplings and therefore that the ribs shall not be of any great Width.rPhe annular ribs 16 may either project to the same height as the endanges 11 and 12, so as to contact with the mandrel 10, in which case therolling operation completely separates the several couplings produced,as shown in the iiange to the left of Fig. 2, or may be of slightly-lessheight, which will leave a thin web connection between the severalcouplings. In the latter case the couplings can be separated in anydesired way, but they are preferably separated by threading the innersurface of the couplings by means of an ordinary threading-tool. Thewebs are of substantially the same thickness as the depth of thescrew-threads, so that when the latter are cut by means of thethreading-tool the couplings are easily separated.

In producing couplings in the apparatus above described I take a bar ofwidth equal to the combined width of the different couplings to beproduced, and a bar which can therefore be produced at much less costbecause of its greater bulk, and cut the same into suitable lengths, thebar being shown at 17 and the length for each welding operation at`18.The blanks are then placed in a suitable furnace and raised to a weldingheat and fed to the rolls between a suitable pair in the cluster, suchas shown at dotted lines 19 in Fig. 1, when the blank will be woundaround the mandrel 10 by the action of the rolls and as the rolls,revolve they will rotate both mandrel and blank and weld the overlappingedge of the blank together. The flanges 16 will at the same time beforced into the blank, so finishing the end faces of the differentcouplings to be produced through the curved or inclined faces of suchribs 16 and through such flanges separating the blank into a series ofcouplings either connected by thin Webs or entirely separated,

the former being shown in Fig. 4, where the couplings are marked 2O andthe thin webs connecting them 2l, and the latterin Fig. 5, where thecouplings themselves are marked 22. In this way with the apparatus abovedescribed I am enabled to produce several couplings with no more laborthan heretofore required in producing a single coupling and to employmaterial for making the same which is less costly, because it is notnecessarily rolled to such small section from the original billet oringot, and I therefore effect a material saving in the cost of thecouplings.

It will be observed that the end flanges on the rolls are located at adistance apart corresponding to the width of the blank, therebyconlining said blank and preventing any side o1' lateral flow of theheated metal, while the cluster of rolls about the mandrel confine theblank against radial expansion, thereby preventing an enlargement of thecouplings. By these means couplings are formed in which the joint issecurely Welded, which are completely shaped and finished, and which areabsolutely of a uniform size.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. In a mill for welding and shaping aplu- Y rality of pipe-couplings orlike articles at a single operation, the combination of a plainfacedcentral mandrel corresponding in diameter to the interior of the blankand adapted to support the same, and a cluster of rolls around themandrel, such rolls having flanges at each end adapted to contact withthe mandrel and confine the blank, and also having two or more workingfaces, each corresponding to a finished coupling, and annularprojections intermediate the working faces for finishing the end facesof the couplings.

IOO

2. In a mill for welding and shaping aplurality of couplings, or likearticles, ata single operation, the combination of a plain-faced centralmandrel corresponding in diameter to the interior of the blank andadapted to support the same, and a cluster of rolls around the mandrel,such rolls having flanges at each end, and also having two or moreworking faces, each corresponding to a finished coupling, and annularprojections i11- termediate the working faces for finishing the endfaces of the couplings, said annular projections being of such height asto leave a web between the couplings of substantially the thickness ofthe depth of screw-threads. In testimony whereof I, the said DAVIDHEGGIE, have hereunto set my hand.

DAVID HEGGIE.

Witnesses:

A. Z. NEWLIN, RICHARD JAMES.

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